Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Tacos

Here's a lunch menu inspired by my brilliant friend Linda, who packs wonderful lunches like these for her lucky daughter. It's "Build A Taco" -- Taco Smart Ground and black beans stay warm in the thermos; at lunchtime you spoon the taco filling into the corn taco shells. Linda's daughter even sprinkles hers with shredded lettuce, but shmoo won't go there. The veggie and fruit of the day are jicama and honeydew, which are really fun to say together. For dessert, one fresh-baked gingerbread cookie for a little dose of iron-rich blackstrap molasses.Verdict: First I was worried that the hard taco shells wouldn't fit in the lunch box, but they fit perfectly and didn't break! Then I was worried that Little shmoo would be unable to manage filling the taco shells without making a mess, but my goodness, he must have maneuvered that taco filling with the dexterity of a brain surgeon. Every bit was scooped out of the thermos and not a trace was left in the lunch box. Only a few slices of honeydew remained. 5 stars.Thanks, Linda!

63 comments:

We love having tacos. We use the chili recipe from Vive le Vegan! The chili is so filling and great tasting. Our trick is to fill the corn taco shell and then wrap it with a tortilla. Yum! It makes it easier to eat and there's the soft-crunchy texture.

Hi Jennifer. This is creative. I remember my mom making do it yourself tacos for dinner, but I always just had cheese and veggies. Now, just veggies, I also don't like/won't eat fake meat. Has Shmoo been on a kick for all this lately, or are you just experimenting? I hope to see more homemade items soon, and less of the packaged stuff, but I am also not complaining. It's nice to see variety and I could be pickier than Shmoo anyway. Nonetheless, it always looks great!

You can always do a vegan taco with beans as filler, for anyone not liking fake meats! And for the "wrap the hard shell in a soft shell" concept, it works great if you spread a layer of (vegan, of course) refried beans in the soft shell and then wrap - makes it stick better, and the texture is fantastic!

Do I miss jicama here in the northeast. One store manages to get a bit in sometimes, but the jicama are a wreck, nothing you'd actually want to eat. I thought about growing them, but apparently they're The Vine That Took Over The World in size.

Mmmmmm, tacos. We are on a very strict budget right now, but I can think of lots of delicious and cheap things to fill tacos with: sweet and spicy black-eyed peas, Cuban black beans, TVP chili, etc. I've had that Taco Smart Ground-- a newly vegetarian friend of mine is really into the fake meats, so he made me try it. It was fine, nothing terribly special, but my complaint with those foods is that they are so high in sodium. That's smart to cut it with some plain black beans.

Nothing like fun food to make you realize that your kid's fine motor skills are up to snuff and then some!

Yes! I love any food that you build yourself. (Spring rolls, summer rolls, Mongolian BBQ, tacos, etc etc.) Looks great. Actually I have not found a bad dish yet here, but I assure you I am still critical of each!

as a new vegan, i'm THRILLED to have found your blog! especially since my hubby isn't quite as excited about our change as i am...i'm wanting to show him how satisfying and tasty vegan really is! keep it comin'!

Your taco lunch looks too good! We just had a twist on "taco night" here -- I made a batch of russet potatoes and mashed them with green onions, crushed garlic, Earth Balance spread, shredded cheddar-style VeganRella and some almond milk. Then I stuffed the mashed potato mixture into semibaked Poblano peppers (deep forest green peppers with a bit of heat, known as Anchos in the dried state, used for Chimichangas) and smothered them in a homemade New Mexico style enchilada sauce made with Ancho and mild New Mexico red chile. I have made this potato mixture and made enchiladas out of this and it's super easy, inexpensive and delicious in a pinch!

I steamed a new frozen fajita veggie medley that I picked up yesterday at Whole Foods called "Texican Medley" with all of the fajita veggies, as well as black beans and corn, and seasoned it with chili powder and juice from a fresh picked lime in my backyard. I made some authentic white corn tortillas on the stove with a comal, and served it with all of the traditional taco fixins and Tofutti "sour cream." Dessert was a cup of homemade traditional Aztec/Oaxacan style hot chocolate with a couple of crushed Pequin chile in my and my husband's cup. It's definitely warming us up! MLS

This is a really great blog. I just discovered your site, I love all the ideas I've seen so far and can't wait to try some of them. I have been incorporating more vegetarian meals in our family diet and hope to eventually move to a vegan diet. The lunch ideas are awesome, really silly question though, please humor me.. where can I find a lunch box like the one you use with the little portion holders?

mmm Tacos. What a great idea for a kids lunch! It reminds me of when I worked at a day care some of the kids would bring Lunchables, and one girl's family couldn't afford them so she got her family to send nachos or cheese and crackers so she could eat like the other kids. I never thought of taco shells though! That's awesome. I bet Shmoo's friends were jealous!

I just have a question & I'm not trying to be disrespectiful but I know a girl who is a Vegan & her skin is a slight shade of gray & she doesn't look very healthy. Her baby, who she is raising as a vegan, is also a shade of gray. He is a healthy size. I think your site is great & can't believe how many comments you get on a daily basis...Amazing. I don't have time to look at all the back post, lthough eventually I would like to. Some of these things I have never heard of. Could you post the benefits and downfalls of being a vegan if there are any?

Lisa, I'd like to answer your question if you don't mind. Some omnivores are fairly healthy and some are not. Some vegans are healthy and some are not. The fact that the vegan you know has a grayish pallor doesn't mean the problem is with her diet! It may be her natural skin tone or she may be unhealthy in other ways. Most vegans I know glow with health--have you seen the pictures of Little Schmoo? The benefits for me are reduced cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, feeling good about my impact on other creatures and the environment, and I lost weight! The downfalls are that it's sometimes really hard to live vegan in an omni, highly processed world. Health-wise, I have found no downfalls as long as I eat a balance, varied diet.

I myself enjoy tacos, burritos, flautas, etc, and I have been making my own tortillas in recent months.I have been using specially prepared tortilla flour, which is more and more commonly offered in international food aisles, including Mexican food aisles, to make tortillas for soft tacos and burritos, and have even gotten them to come out soft.I have also used that flour to make flat bread for gyros, though I myself have often had to use ground beef instead of sliced steak, but you probably use specially seasoned soy or tofu for something like that, anyway, you might be able to make your own variant with wheat or even corn flour, the latter of which may be a little trickier, and getting the flour/water balance is the greatest challenge: You want the dough moist enough to be pliable but not enough to be sticky...

It is a very good thing to be vegan. You are spreading love and peace in the world. People of all religions like vegans. Since you do not offend any religion. I wish there were more people like you.Bes of Luck to all the Vegans!

Jennifer, YUM! Do you ever make TVP chilli? My favorite. I can make a vat of TVP chilli and live off of it for days and days.

Lisa, I'll help to answer your question too by saying that the benefits/downfalls Monica listed are the most common and predominate.

For me specifically, the benefits were loss of unnecessary weight, increased energy, increased mental clarity, and the total disappearance of several "conditions" I had been diagnosed with by a doctor. I had suffered from terrible IBS for years and it ceased to exist several months after I began a vegetarian lifestyle.

The downfall she listed is the only one I can think of. Any lifestyle different from the mainstream will take learning and trying, and if you can call this a downfall, it is the only one. When followed properly, there are absolutely no health disadvantages to a vegan diet. Vegans do have to take a B12 supplement since this vitamin is only found in animal products, but the rest, as you can see from the Lunch Box, is pretty easy. Balance, variety, and whole foods are all it takes to be a vibrantly healthy vegetarian. If the physical appearance of your friend and her child is a result of their diet, they are probably having trouble adjusting to being vegan or finding vegan options in this omni world. Too bad Jennifer can't come over and cook for them. :(

And thank you for being respectfully curious rather than hostile and judgmental. I hope I helped to answer your question in an equally respecful manner.

kelly, jicama is a great vegetable(?) It looks like a potato sort of, but you peel it and eat it raw. It tastes vaguely like an apple, but not so tart. Out in CA, supermarkets often sell it packaged in containers cut up into chunks. It has a high water content, somewhat less than watermelon, sort of crisp. Often served form the refrig, but fine at room temp also. Good for snacking or in salads.

my favorite way to do a harty taco filling is with Bulgar Wheat and black beans mmmm. My mom generally makes it, but it's pretty simple, it just involves soakiing the bulgar with warm water and tomato paste or salsa. Then saute onion and garlic, then add the bulgar black beans, water, more salsa, and taco seasonings. Somewhere along those lines, and even before I stopped eating meat, I begged my mom to make this version as opposed to normal tacos...

Back in my omnivore days, I used to get some delicious but entirely bad-for-you fried fish burritos at a local taco stand. I've missed them since going vegan. . . but now, with your vegan fish sticks recipe, I can enjoy a much healther, cruelty-free fish burrito!

Looks good! I'm not vegetarian in any way but I have in the recent months started to move away from processed foods and have started looking for more organically grown options. We have a small garden and we plan to expand and try to grow all that we need because buying vegetables from the grocery store (Wal-Mart) leaves a lot to be desired.

I love your bento box to go. I also recommend Zojirushi lunch jars - very cool if you don't have a fridge or microwave at work.May I add your link to my cooking blog?? Most of my dishes are vegan, vegetarian, lactose free, or gluten free.

Yum tacos! I love them! By the way I used Jennifer's fish stick recipe to make "fish" tacos! They were great. I used corn tortillas, fresh lime, cilantro and onions, salsa, and veganaise tartar sauce. Oooh, that's what we're having for dinner! Another by the way, don't respond to Bernard. If we just ignore these kind of comments, they'll eventually get bored and move on. People like that just like to get a rise out of others for whatever reason...

Hi, Vegan Vulcan & Michelle -- those tacos sound so good! I go to "Taco Del Mar" often to get their vegan burrito, and have always thought "fish tacos" sounded iffy. But I think I'd like them made with the tofu fish sticks!

I'm surprised there's no vegan cheese or salsa to go on the taco! Does he really eat them plain?

If I were packing this lunch I would need TWO laptop lunchboxes for all the toppings I'd want on my taco... soy cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, cilantro, both beans AND the fake meat stuff, red AND green chile (or jalapeno if I had to)maybe even some soy sour cream... just anything so it wasn't just the fake meat in the shell.

...but maybe I'm just a topping fiend. I do the same thing with veggie burgers and pizza...

Just wanted to say 'hi, i read your blog!' ... i'm not a vegan yet, but i'm veggie and trying to make my meals more nutritious and use less processed stuff, plus i hate cheese, all of which lead rather a lot to veganism :) I'm really in awe of how inventive your lunches are.. and i've already used several of your ideas for my lunches. Thank you!

Exactly! I think that's a thing for a lot of kids. Two, three ingredients mixed together tops, and nothing touching on the plate! I would be like you, Mallory, lots of toppings -- beans, lettuce, steamed spinach, salsa, tomato, cilantro, black olives...mmm!

Yum... tacos! :) We just made veggie tacos last week! We cook up lentils instead of "taco meat." I just add some spicy seasoning while it's cooking, and the serve with homemade salsa, lettuce, etc. Sometimes we'll grate carrot in with the lentils, too.

i just found this site. thanks a lot. i have to bring lunches with me each day and i am really getting bored with what i bring. i am vegetarian by the way. veganism was too difficult for me to pull off.

My mother always told me that the rule with melon is "eat it alone or leave it alone"...it's bad for digestion to eat it along with other foods. Has anyone else heard that? Otherwise, the lunch looks great!

reading teh comments about toppings..i agree..i love toppings and i am also a condiment fiend..i know someone mentioned that they make tacos with lentil filling and that sounds really good..i might have to try that sometime..did you develop this on your own or find it in a cookbook? anyways another great lunch and so sad that the weekend is coming soon (only becuz that means two days of no new lunchboxes)